In modular office designs and other modern office systems, it is functionally desirable to have cabinets incorporating a stored door feature of the so-called "flipper door" type, wherein the door is adapted to, in the closed position, cover the front opening of the cabinet when the cabinet is not in use and to, in the open position, rest above the upper wall of the cabinet when the cabinet is in use to allow workers easy access to its interior. In addition, it is aesthetically desirable to have the door, in the closed position, not only cover the front opening of the cabinet, but also cover the front edges of the side walls of the cabinet. In this manner, the cabinet is given a clean, spartan appearance. In the past, cabinets with stored door features have been available. These cabinets employ rack and pinion assemblies to mount the flipper doors. None of the prior art flipper doors, however, cover, in the closed position, the front side edges of the cabinets to which they are attached.
To achieve this aesthetically desirable feature, it is necessary to employ a flipper door having a width greater than the distance between the side walls of the cabinet. In addition, in cabinets with square or rectangular side walls, to enable the flipper door to clear the front corners of the side walls of the cabinet when the door is pivoted to the open or closed position the mounting assembly for the flipper door must either (1) translate the pivot axis of the flipper door forwardly relative to the transverse axis defined by the axle to which the pinion gears are coupled, or (2) in the absence of such flipper door pivot axis translation, employ relatively elongated brackets rigidly secured at the upper ends thereof to the inside wall of the flipper door and pivotly mounted at the lower ends thereof to the pinion gear axle. In the latter case, however, because of the great length of the flipper door mounting brackets the door, in the up or stored position, would rest at an undesirable height above the upper wall of the cabinet.
In some prior art cabinets, the pivot axis of the flipper door directly corresponds to the axis of the pinion gear axle. In addition, these cabinets employ flipper doors with widths less than the distances between the cabinets' side walls. For example, the U.S. patent to Blodee, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,502, issued May 5, 1981, discloses a flipper door guide arrangement for an office file cabinet having a rack and pinion assembly. Since the flipper door is rotatably supported on the transverse pinion gear axle through a pair of connecting brackets rigidly secured to the door, the door pivots to the open and closed position along the same axis as that defined by the pinion gear axle.
Other prior art cabinets, however, do disclose flipper door pivot axis translation forward of the axis defined by the pinion gear axle. But, like the cabinet described above, these cabinets do not employ flipper doors having widths greater than the distances between the side walls of the cabinets. For example, in the U.S. patent to VanderKooi, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,907, issued Mar. 8, 1983, forwardly projecting brackets are rotatably coupled to the pinion gear axle at the rearward ends of the brackets. At the forward end of each bracket is a hinge rigidly secured to the flipper door. Since the pivot axis of the door is defined by the pivot axis of the hinges and the hinge pivot axis is forward of the axis of the pinion gears through the pinion gear axle, the pivot door axis is located forward of the axis of the pinion gear axle. In the U.S. patent to Chovanec, et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,005, issued July 24, 1973, pivoting of the door is provided by pivot blocks mounted within the upper portion of the door and pivotly connected to lugs coupled to the pinion gear axle. In this manner, the door is pivoted along an axis which is positioned forward of the axis defined by the pinion gear axle. Although VanderKooi, et al and Chovanec, et al disclose cabinets wherein the pivot axis of the flipper doors are translated forward of the pinion gear axle axis, they do not disclose flipper doors which have widths greater than the distances between the side walls of the cabinets and thus do not show flipper doors which, when in their closed positions, cover the front edge portions of the side walls of the cabinets.